Jurisdiction of the Phoenix Empire
Jurisdiction in the Phoenix Empire is not based on written laws. In an absolutist monarchy, those would be a waste of paper, anyway. But there is a set of historically grown rules that are treated as laws by everyone, and they are the groundwork for any legal discourse. Introduction: Social structure of the Empire To understand the laws of the Empire, the social structure with the three distinct strata of nobles, commoners and slaves has to be mentioned. *A noble within his (or her) domain rules absolute, and is only accountable to his liege lord. His House and basically all other nobles will support him if ever his superiority appears to be threatened. *Slaves are owned directly by a noble or a commoner and are not considered people, but items. Thus, they cannot hold any property of their own, nor can they be hurt or killed, only be damaged or broken. (Serfs are a special class of slaves belonging to a piece of land that belongs to a noble. For the purpose of this text, serfs are technically considered slaves.) *Commoners have no more legal protection against nobles to begin with than slaves. But unlike slaves, they don’t belong to any particular person or place and thus can move freely. Most commoners are affiliated with a Merchant Guild, and nobles will think twice about angering a guild whose services they might depend upon one day. Noble interests always supersede commoner interests; commoner interests always supersede slave interests. Consequentially, every case falls apart in nine possible situations depending on whether the perpetrator and the victim is a noble/commoner/slave. Common crimes and their legal and social consequences I have set up a chart of the most common crimes and their ‘standard punishments’ for each nine versions to give a feel of how steep the power slope in the Phoenix Empire is. The chart notes only the most common punishment someone can force upon the perpetrator if convicted. Due to the enormous cultural differences between the noble houses and the planets they rule, those punishments can vary wildly from location to location in shape, though usually not in severity. Whether a case is brought to prosecution is highly variable depending on the location and people involved. The judge will always be the ‘next higher Lord’ above the parties involved. This makes justice a highly subjective matter, but on the other hand proceedings are usually extremely swift. Also, if Nobles are concerned, a crime is more a matter of honor than property damage, and usually they take care of that personally, creatively and very bloody. I probably have not stressed enough that within his (or her) fief, a noble’s rule is absolute. He can meet out any punishment or pardon however he pleases. The text below and the chart deal with the minimum punishment a victim can theoretically force on the perpetrator by legal means. And while this absolutism is an awfully unjust system, it makes for a perverse kind of legal stability and foreseeability - Your Lord’s word is Law, no appeal, no interpretations. The social structure of three very distinct layers also creates some kind of internal control mechanism. Commoners will always watch carefully how things among the slaves are settled, as they are the ones profiting directly from the cheap slave labour. Anything threatening the system would be quenched instantly by the commoners. Nobles carefully watch how commoners settle things, both to ensure the slaves stay down and to keep the commoners from attaining any real power. The constant backstabbing and jostling for status among the nobility is what keeps the nobles checking on each other - everyone not adhering to the well-known rules will be impeachable, considered weak or risking an uprising and will soon see himself under constant attack from his enemies who will try to gain from his situation. ‘never happens’ (as listed in the chart) Once again, you rightly guessed that these crimes are way too demeaning for a noble to make public in any sort of trial. Of course this happens, but rape and fraud imply weakness or gullibility, respectively, nothing any noble would admit to. So there is no legal way to have justice for those crimes. But most nobles consider themselves best qualified for the job anyway, and take matters into their own hands. Vigilantism is rampant among the nobility. Many ‘meaningless crimes’ can be traced to some dark secret, but just as often, they are merely the symptoms of a bad case of ‘L’etat, c’est moi!’. Slaves as "victims" Of course one can commit a crime to a slave. But slaves are items, legally, not people. So you can damage a slave, but not harm him. You can use but not rape him, or destroy but not kill him. So the criminal act is still there, it is just completely shifted down in severity. You are right in suggesting that commoners will more likely see slaves as people, but you should not forget the cultural and educational differences between them. Even if commoners know they could well end up being a slave one day, they will rarely feel a ‘slave’ could be one of them. Pets Abusing any slave never amounts to more than vandalism in the legal system of the Empire. Pet earrings, on the other hand, are treated as a clear order issued by the owner, so any perpetrator would not only be persecuted for damaging the owner's property, but also for defying a direct order. Legal exceptions for members of the Imperial Church As mentioned in the chart, under certain circumstances affiliation with the Imperial Church bestows some protection against prosecution. These rights come out of historic circumstances and are generally considered means to curb the nobles’ power over the workings of the Church. Some famous legal exceptions for the members of the Church are: *For Temple Belligra priests, the 'actus reus' of trespassing, assault or murder 2nd does not exist. *For Temple Verata priests, the 'actus reus' of trespassing, theft and espionage does not exist. *Temple Aroona priests, little surprise here, can not be accused of adultery. Also, the ‘actus reus’ of harmful negligence does not exist for them. Special Rules for certain Noble Houses Also as mentioned in the chart, Noble Houses with their strong beliefs have various ‘laws’ and exceptions that sometimes even extend outside intra-house matters: *Any Dracon may freely attack and / or harm the Dracon one or more steps ahead of him or her in line of succession. *Any Jehanni woman is considered a slave towards her father / husband / commanding officer. *Any Cournicova man is considered not culpable in any circumstance, his mother / wife will be prosecuted instead. *Intra-House cases of theft, fraud and espionage are not considered crimes for House van der Meer. *Castella women are never culpable of adultery. *If a noble has an oath-bound sword-brother, the sword-brother can take any punishment upon himself instead of said noble. Adoption and illegitimate children *Usually, any child is born with the status of his or her mother. *Both commoners and nobles can officially adopt slave or commoner children, raising them to their status. *Only nobles can acknowledge illegitimate offspring, which doesn't change their status unless they are the last living relatives, in which case they are entitled to claim their heritage as if they had been born noble. *Usually, adopted children are raised in the adopting household. If their mother moves in with them depends on the generosity of the adopting parents, but this is a rare thing to happen. Illegitimate offspring are usually raised in the household of their birthmother, though if granted appanage, this will be a rather well-off household and treated as commoners even if slaves. Adultery The crimes listed in the chart are the ‘important’ ones that I thought of instantly and those I had to add later on to explain some connections, like ‘harmful neglect’ for an owner whose slave attacks a commoner. And while I think it contains all the important points of reference, it is far from comprehensive. I only stumbled across adultery while I was adding the exceptions for church and nobles, and I probably should add it to the chart. But it is not easy to make it fit in, as no one cares about what slaves do in their free time (Your slaves have spare time? You’re growing lax!), commoners are too secular to call it a crime (They’ll either sort things out within their relationship or have a contract sorting this out), and the views of nobles on the subject spread across all the possible options. A Dracon noble is basically expected to be promiscuous or at least lecherous, whereas a Jehanni woman will be whipped for showing her ankles in public and stoned for showing her breasts. New Planets coming into the Fold Newly conquered (or liberated) planets joining the Empire are supposed to follow exactly the same rules as everybody else. But it is usually left in the hands of the ruling Duke to decide how fast those rules have to be implemented as not to risk an uprising by an alienated population. The top ranks of the Empire rather think in generations than in years, and their plans reflect that attitude. Category:Legalities